Nessa O’Mahony – Charging down

Nessa LE P&W 2 Nov-Dec 2024

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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Two November-December 2024

Charging down, poem by Nessa O’Mahony.


Charging down

My mother is switching off.
Systematically, steadily, switch by switch,
appliance by household tool, the power cut,
the dial turned, each standby stood down
Write any signs you want, leave notes,
Position post-it’s where they’ll be seen, or not.
No matter. You’ll wake to a cold house,
No dial tone, a doorbell mute no matter
how hard you press it, the digital clock blank.
She’s sending back to earth
the current that charged her.


© Nessa O’Mahony

Nessa O’Mahony was born in Dublin. She has published five books of poetry – Bar Talk, (1999), Trapping a Ghost (2005), In Sight of Home (2009),  Her Father’s Daughter (2014) and The Hollow Woman on the Island (2019). She has edited journals and anthologies and writes fiction and non-fiction. She is an associate lecturer with The Open University and has a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Wales, Bangor.

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